rifle calibers

Rifle Hunting: The Best Caliber For Deer

There is often a dispute on what hunting method yields better results; bow hunting or rifle hunting?

As long as you have the basic knowledge on how to hunt with either, you will likely succeed.

But, if we zero in on rifle hunting for deer, the decades-old (and often heated) debate is, which caliber is best? Well, just like bow hunting vs. rifle hunting… if you know your calibers well, there are many that can be effective.

Best Deer Hunting Caliber?

There is probably no single best cartridge for deer hunting that can be agreed upon by all hunters. However, there are many great deer hunting calibers out there. Many hunters also expand their variety of calibers over the years.

In choosing the best hunting rifle caliber for you, it is important to find a balance between something that is easy on both the shoulder and the wallet. Below are a few of the best.

.30-06 Springfield

The .30-06 Springfield cartridge is one of the most commonly used calibers for deer hunting. Dr J.Y. Jones had successfully taken all the North American game species with a Remington rifle in .30-06! This alone is a huge testament to the cartridge.

The .30-06 is not only popular in taking big game in North America, but it is also one of the most popular cartridges worldwide.

whitetail buck standing in field

What is best rifle caliber for deer hunting? Well, that depends on your shooting distance, how much recoil you can handle and other factors.

The reliability of this cartridge has remained for many years. It was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and served the United States in both World Wars as well as the Korean war.

The .30-06 was introduced after the .30-03. The case was shortened from the ‘03 case of 2.540” to 2.494” and topped up with a 150-grain flat base bullet at 2,700 feet per second.

Rifle hunters often compare other cartridges to the .30-06 because of how famous it still is even after all these years.

The muzzle velocity is 2700 feet per second with muzzle energy of 2719 ft. lbs. It works efficiently within a range of approximately 575 yards. Hence, it is good if you plan to hunt deer from long range.

This cartridge has been used in famous rifles like the bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifle, the semi-automatic M1 Garand and many machine guns.

The .30-06 is one of the most versatile cartridges as well. Its power and versatility make it a popular choice for rifle hunting in North America, especially for larger game like deer.

.243 Winchester

The .243 cartridge has faithfully served its role in hunting game since 1955. It is popular among many new deer hunters today.

The .243 Winchester is one of the better calibers that yields excellent results. It has a muzzle velocity of 2960 feet per second with an energy level of 1945 ft. lbs. The most efficient range is within 350 yards.

Since the 1960s, the .243 Winchester has been by far the most widely used caliber for shooting small and woodland deer in the UK.

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One of the advantages offered is that it has mild recoil compared to the other cartridges. This is especially good for beginners who are still getting the hang of hunting and is also a good caliber for the experienced hunter, as it helps avoids bruising of the shoulder or cheek.

Since it has gained substantial popularity among hunters internationally, the ammunition and components are universally available which makes it easy to buy. They can be found in almost any gun shop and they are also not high in cost.

The only setback is probably that the maximum hunting bullet weight is up to 100 grains in most factory ammunition. This cartridge produces a velocity of 2960 feet per second with a 100 grain projectile from a 24 inch barrel.

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.270 Winchester

The .270 Winchester is one of the world’s best deer hunting cartridges. It is likely the leading rifle for harvesting whitetail deer and has got the job done for over 90 years with few complaints. It is a classic caliber that can take down deer quickly.

The cartridge is based upon the .30-06 Springfield but the case is slightly longer by 0.050.”

The .270 Winchester shoots small diameter bullets at a high velocity with a manageable amount of recoil. The recoil of the cartridge can also be mitigated with the addition of using a reliable recoil pad.

The 130 and 150 grain slugs are the most popular choices of projectiles.   

Although the .270 does not have as much power as the .30-06, it is still powerful enough for deer hunting at all reasonable hunting ranges.

It also has a very flat trajectory and offers great accuracy in good bolt action rifles. Furthermore, the caliber is available in many different rifles and its affordability and abundance for high-quality bullets are great.

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.308 Winchester

Among calibers larger than 6mm, the .308 Winchester is the most popular short-action big-game hunting cartridge among hunters worldwide. Its relatively short case makes it especially suitable for short action rifles.

Short action rifles chambered for the .308 Winchester tend to be lighter in weight than long action rifles. This makes it easier on the shoulder.

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The .308 was introduced when Winchester released it in 1952 in their Model 70 bolt-action rifle and Model 88 lever gun. There was instant success following their release. This is because of the accuracy delivered by this shorter rifle with a compact receiver.

Will you be shooting on open ranges or in the woods and forests? These are important factors to consider when choosing the rifle caliber and cartridge that’s right for you.

Some still feel that the .30-06 is more superior for deer hunting because of the larger case and slight velocity advantages, but others appreciate the lighter weight of a short-action rifle.

The accuracy and squat powder column also make up for the slightly slower velocity.

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The .308 Winchester has great ballistics. With the right factory load or hand load, this round can reach out 350 to 400 yards in hunting an Eastern or Midwestern whitetail.

Within 200 yards, it can deliver a swift and humane deer kill. It is also a versatile caliber with bullets from 110 grains up to 200 grains, depending on the game. For whitetails or mule deer, 150 to 168 grain projectiles are suggested, while 180 to 200 grain projectiles are good for larger game such as elk.

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.25-06 Remington

The .25-06 was designed as a “dual-purpose” cartridge and is suitable for hunting all game whether small or big. The one rifle/cartridge combination is designed to cover a variety of hunting and shooting situations.

The .25-06 benefits from the newest premium bullet designs such as the Remington Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded, Barnes-X and the Swift A-frame. With these bullets, it becomes adequate for hunting larger animals like elk.

It has a remarkable big game shooting potential with any number of bullets from 100 to 120 grains. This caliber also offers mild recoil. It is hence said to be suitable for women and kids for hunting.

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Being a .25 caliber, it also has an effective bullet weight range between 85 and 120 grains. This makes it a perfect rifle for double duty on game.

Having been considered a good cartridge back in the 1920s, the .25-06 is more so a good cartridge today thanks to modern slow-burning powders and premium projectiles.

Stiffer projectiles can handle the biggest deer and some rifle hunters use it for hunting elk.

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.35 Remington

The .35 is another valuable caliber used in deer hunting. It can be used to hunt deer at approximately 135 yards so it is ideal for taking a mid-range shot. Its muzzle velocity is 2080 feet per second and energy of 1921 ft. lbs.

It is good for hunting in the woods and is a pleasure to carry around because it is light.

Remington marketed this cartridge as a superior alternative to the .30-30 Winchester. Though it only produces slightly more muzzle energy, the bullet sported is 18% heavier and has 35% more frontal surface area. This contributes to the difference in power of the cartridges. 

Although it is a powerful cartridge when used under the right circumstances, the .35 Remington is one of the most underrated cartridges in the United States. The sad part is that the ammunition has started to fade away. It seems that there are fewer choices each year, which is bad news for those who love hunting with it.

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.30-30 Winchester

The .30-30 was the very first smokeless powder cartridge for sport produced by Winchester.

In the modern era of hunting rifles, you would think that a cartridge with the performance level of a .30-30 would have already faded into obscurity because of how long ago it was produced. However, there is a reason why the .30-30 still appears in the top ten of the sales list of many ammunition companies.   

The reason is that the .30-30 still works well today. In fact, it still remains the favorite of many deer hunters. It still yields good performance with cast lead bullets and generates low recoil, which is suitable for young hunters to hunt with. Some hunters may also continue using it for nostalgia sake.

Getting in touch with the hunting rifle heritage and using a lever-gun from our great grandfathers’ era has a special appeal to it.

Though it may be outperformed by other calibers in muzzle energy, the .30-30 Winchester has a high shooting ability. The downside is that it is lacking when it comes to longer range and open field settings.

It only has an effective range of 180 yards. But, if you hunt in the woods or forests, there is no reason not to shoot .30-30 if you are inclined to do so.

Conclusion

Overall, there is no single best caliber for hunting deer, but there may be one that is best suited to your preference.

Be sure to always practice proper firearm safety, which involves not only smart handling of your gun or rifle, but also being sure your firearm is cleaned and maintained properly. Visit your local gunsmith for maintenance and repairs. Or, if you do the maintenance yourself, you can utilize a gun vise for quick, easy and safe cleaning.

In choosing the best deer hunting caliber for yourself, make sure to look out for minimal recoil, maximum accuracy, aerodynamics and perfect striking energy. (The standard striking energy is 1000 ft. lbs which will be sufficient to kill a deer.)

When these are all in place, you are good to go!

James Nelson
spike buck pic

Deer Management Dilemma: Should I Shoot Spike Bucks?

Every hunting season, many land managers, owners and hunters debate whether or not they should harvest yearling spike bucks.  It is an age old debate in deer camps across the country.  

To Shoot Or Not To Shoot A Spike

So what is the answer?  The answer is yes, and no.  

The truth of the matter is that there are times when the harvest of spikes is beneficial to a deer herd, and times when it is damaging.  Each tract of land has its own management needs and determining factors of when and why to harvest spike bucks.

whitetail buck in grass

With proper nutrition, habitat and rain, today’s spike buck could be a future wall hanger. (photo by Jeff Coldwell)

I may be speaking for myself here, but when many hunters go to the stand, they are looking for a “wall hanger” type of buck, not a spike.  However, more times than not, it’s a spike that shows itself first and the hunter gets disappointed.  

Then comes the internal debate: “should I shoot the spike and take his genetics out of the herd?”

Unfortunately, that isn’t how it works.  A bounty of spikes is considered to be a problem, but that isn’t always the case.

I will venture to say that most hunters practice “see spike, shoot spike,” as they believe they are genetically inferior animals.  That is invalid.

See Spike, Shoot Spike?

Steve Nelle, a Natural Resource Specialist and Wildlife Biologist, once analyzed 15 years of records from a central Texas ranch that was practicing “see spike, shoot spike.”  They were harvesting every spike they saw.  After analyzing these records, he determined that the buck size was not increasing because they were reducing the number of bucks moving into older age classes.

Rainfall, habitat, nutrition, among other factors affect buck antler growth.

There are a lot of factors that determine whether a buck will be a spike, 4, 6 or 8 pointer as a yearling, and older in life. These factors include rainfall, habitat, nutrition, carrying capacity, and competition.  

Let’s dive into these factors to determine whether or not you should shoot the next spike you see next deer season.

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Rain Is A Good Thing

To me, the most influential ingredient in spike development (or lack thereof) is rainfall.  Rainfall ties every other factor together.  If your land is experiencing a drought, it would be a poor decision to take a spike.  

Depending on the severity of the drought, the deer herd population could decrease naturally and throw your age structure and sex ratio into shambles.  You’re going to want the spikes to mature into older age classes to see what they become. 

If you have an encouraging amount of rainfall, shooting spikes could be beneficial.  The high rainfall creates a domino effect of good habitat and nutrition, which will lead to buck growth and less population attrition.

Poor habitat and/or nutrition is going to lead to poor antler growth and more spikes.  It would be a poor decision to harvest a spike during this time.

Habitat And Nutrition Are Key

Habitat and nutrition fall into the same category for me.  If your deer herd doesn’t have good habitat and nutrition, survival is going to be difficult, as will antler growth.

The state of the nutrition on your hunting land helps determine whether you should take spikes or not.

There is no way to tell what the potential of a spike is when the property he is living on will not let him get to his full size each year.  When your property does have good habitat and nutrition, there is going to be less die off, and bucks are going to be able to reach their potential for that year.  You will then be able to determine if you should take spikes or not.  Improving the habitat and nutrition on the land is critical.

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Carrying Capacity: Herd Numbers And Ratios

Carrying capacity is the next important factor in determining whether or not to shoot a yearling spike.  Here are some questions for you to answer.  

  • Do you have too many young bucks in your herd or do you have a shortage?
  • Can your property handle the amount of deer you have?  
  • Do you have a poor sex ratio?  
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If you have a surplus of young bucks, I encourage the harvest of spikes.  The spikes will take up essential food for the other young bucks.  Let the young bucks have that food; they may have a greater potential of becoming your dream buck.  

FYI, a deer eats around 2 tons of food per year.  If you have a shortage of bucks, do not shoot spikes — or at least not every spike!  Again, it is crucial for these bucks to graduate into older age classes to see what they will become.  

Competition: A Buck’s Fight To Survive

The last factor to cover is competition.  When I say competition, I mean the deer having to compete with livestock and other wild game for food, not to mention just finding a way to stay alive!  In the end, the goal of all wild animals is to reproduce and live to see tomorrow. 

Most ranches in Texas have cattle that will compete with whitetail for food.  

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Some even have sheep, goats, axis deer or exotic animals.  All of those other animals take away important food and nutrients from deer.  The less nutrients a yearling buck is getting, the greater chance he has to be a spike.  

Predation is a factor as well.  The more predators on the property – such as coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions – the higher the predation rate on fawns will be.  With a higher predation rate, there is a greater need for each spike buck to mature into the next age class.  

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Did I Mention Rain?

Do you see how rainfall is the catalyst to it all?  Once again, I believe rain is the most important factor when it comes to spike management and deer management as a whole.  Unfortunately, we cannot control mother nature but the more rain a property gets, the better.  

Rain is the catalyst for all deer management.

Higher rainfall totals throughout the year provide growth of vegetation, which equates to thicker habitat for living, survival and higher nutritional values.  

Nutrition is a yearlong need for a whitetail deer, but the more nutritional value a yearling receives from February to September, the better.  

With that said, what is almost always overlooked by hunters is the fact that a buck’s antler potential also comes from the mother’s gene pool.  If the mother doe is stressed and has poor nutrition throughout her pregnancy, the buck offspring she produces will have smaller antlers than if she had great nutrition throughout the pregnancy.   

Final Thoughts

Maybe you don’t have time to manage your hunting property.  Maybe you’re just hunting for meat and antler size doesn’t matter to you.  That’s great!  That’s the beauty of hunting. 

You can manage how you want to manage, and hunt how you want to hunt (as long as you follow laws).  However, if you do manage your herd, the next time you see a spike and have the mental debate on whether to shoot it or not, think about the the variety of factors that effect that deer and your herd. 

Happy hunting!

Kevin Burke of TX Sunrise Outdoors.
girl with muzzle loader buck

Muzzle Loader Memory | How Hard Work Paid Off On a New Jersey Whitetail

That hunting season had been nothing but hard work, patience, dedication… and rain!

On the morning of New Jersey bow season opener, it was pouring rain, and of course I went out in it… but saw nothing moving in the area. Later, I went back out for an evening hunt and I had three bucks come out to me at the same time, following one another.  However, I was unable to harvest one of those bucks, because for early bow season, it’s “earn a buck,” which means you must harvest a doe first. Nonetheless, opening day was exciting with all the buck action I was seeing, and it gave me even more confidence for the rest of the season.

Wanted: Solo Doe

I sat just about every evening after work, waiting for that solo doe to walk in, and I just was having no luck. I was seeing deer, but they were either too far away, with fawns, or were bucks.

Finally, on September 19th, I kicked off my 2018 hunting season when I harvested a mature solo doe with my bow. I couldn’t have been more thankful!

I continued to check the trail cameras and scout new areas, looking to punch my buck tag. There were numerous young bucks coming to the bait or checking out the area I was hunting, but not any buck I wanted to fill my tag with.  All the bucks I was seeing still needed a few years to reach maturity.

Wanted: Punched Buck Tag

October was about the same as September, as I saw young bucks and does coming in. I was able to harvest another doe that came in with a broken leg and could barely walk.

As I continued checking trail cams, a couple of our shooters were hitting our bait piles or scrapes, but just at night. They became nocturnal and only does were coming during shooting light.  November was coming, and that meant rut season for bucks. And, muzzle loader season was right around the corner.

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I took the time on the weekends to shoot my muzzle loader to make sure it was dialed in for the first days of the season.  I sat both days at the end of November and I was able to lock in on a mature doe, 80 yards out in the field. She only ran about 30 yards until we found her.

The following week for us was 6-day firearm, and I knew that any deer we’ve had on camera will soon be moving all over, so we would likely have a chance to see new bucks come in the area. However, 6-day firearm came and went and I still had my muzzle loader buck tag waiting to be punched. I continued to sit the days that were open for muzzle loader season, hoping to punch my buck tag before the year was up.

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Muzzle Loader Season Magic

That day finally came, December 26, 2018 at 3:38 pm! That is when the wait finally ended and I was able to fill my last tag for muzzle loader, and fill it with an incredible buck.  I had to work the morning of the 26th at 5 am until 1:30 pm. I got home, changed, and my dad and I went out to both sit in an evening stand with the muzzle loader.

I got in the stand around 2 pm.  The wind was blowing in my favor, the weather was perfect, and it was quiet. Around 2:20 pm, I kept hearing something to my left but saw it was just some squirrels chasing each other. I turned to look to my right… and that’s when I caught a glimpse of his antlers.

Love At First Crab Claw

The only thing I could see at first was the crab claw on the left side.  When he walked a little farther out of the laurels he turned to look next to him and that’s when I knew he was a shooter.  My heart started to race, my breathing got heavy, and my hands started to shake.  I reached to grab my gun, although very slowly, since he kept looking around curious about something. His tail was going up and down and he acted calm as he walked the area.

I finally got the gun half way onto the shooting rail when he turned to look in my direction.  I thought he could hear my breathing, because in my head, I thought I was so loud. So, I hid my mouth in my scarf and took a deep breath.

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Please Mr. Buck, Turn Broadside

I moved the gun up to look at him through the scope.  I still couldn’t believe this buck just walked out in front of me. And, it was a buck we had never seen before. He went 10 yards behind the pile and made a half circle and then looked straight toward me. I had the cross hairs directly on his chest and was debating about shooting him right there.  I thought to myself “he’s going to take two steps left or right to be broad side and that’s when I’ll shoot.”

Sure thing, he took two steps to his left looking to my right, stood completely broadside, and I knew that was my shot.

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Breathe… Trigger… Smoke… Buck Down!

I took one last deep breath and squeezed the trigger.  Through the black powder smoke, I saw him jump in the air and do the famous kick, and took off.  I watched him run directly away from me and then I heard the crashing and saw the white of his tail and that was it.

Now, my nerves kicked in again and my heart was racing. I took a deep breath and couldn’t believe what had just happened.  My dad heard my shot from across the field and texted me to ask if that was me who shot.

I was in total shock.  We waited a good 45 minutes until we went to go look. My dad stayed in his stand hoping something would come out since it was still early.

woman with muzzle loader buck

I had done it! My first whitetail with a muzzle loader. What a memory!

My boyfriend came to help me track. We had been following the blood trail, and not 50 yards away, we saw his white belly sticking out in all the green laurels.  I couldn’t believe that I harvested this amazing, mature whitetail buck! Especially since it was my first buck with my CVA Muzzle loader!! This was definitely an N1 Moment that I will never forget!

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